


we become each other's source of warmth

by ddeonghwa



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sickfic, also just found out that hyunric is playful line and i am Sad, also the hyunric ship is so underrated i'm so sad, copious amounts of hair petting, i have not written anything in like 5 years, lapslock, self-betaed, this is my first fic please be nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25090615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddeonghwa/pseuds/ddeonghwa
Summary: eric is watching their latest road to kingdom performance on his bed, repeatedly rewinding the part where younghoon chokes hyunjae. he tells himself that he is rewatching it because he’s trying to learn the expressions his hyungs are pulling off so well, not becausehe wishes he was the one running his hand up hyunjae’s torso and then grabbing his neck.no.(aka 5 times eric looks for hyunjae and 1 time hyunjae looks for eric)
Relationships: Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Son Youngjae | Eric
Comments: 16
Kudos: 116





	we become each other's source of warmth

**Author's Note:**

> title from spring snow which is my favourite tbz song!  
> uhhhhh this is my first fic so pls be nice  
> no specific timeline for this but i would say this is rtk and post-rtk era minus the whole covid situation  
> started writing this after the second last ep of rtk and i only finished it today... lmao  
> can u believe i thought this would be a 1k fic. lmao. how the fuck did it end up almost 10k words long  
> pls forgive any mistakes i've made and  
> enjoy!

i.

the song is reaching the end. eric mentally prepares himself for the last stunt of this performance. 

“it’s my showtime!” 

eric takes a running start before sliding under the table. the moment his left leg folds under his body, he knew something was off. not too bad, just slightly. eric hurriedly stands up to continue the choreography, grimacing slightly. he takes care to not put as much pressure on his left leg as usual. 

after the rehearsal has ended, eric gently stretches his leg, heaving a sigh of relief as he feels his bones pop back to their original positions. it would be terrible if any of them got injured now. everyone knows that this performance requires all of the members since they do not have backup dancers for this stage. 

eric hears someone walking up to him. he turns around and ends up face to face with hyunjae. 

“everything alright? is your leg okay?” hyunjae asks, scanning eric up and down for any injuries. 

eric’s heart skips a beat. he didn’t think that anyone saw that. much less hyunjae. his face slowly turns red. “i-it’s nothing. i just landed a bit weirdly but after stretching it out it’s as good as normal,” eric stuttered. 

hyunjae stops looking all over eric to instead narrow his eyes at him, trying to figure out if eric is lying. eric could not stop himself from fidgeting under his gaze. standing only about a feet apart, eric tried very hard to hide the fact that he was deeply inhaling hyunjae’s cologne, which might just be his favourite scent in the world. 

“you’re moving your leg a lot. i guess that means it really doesn’t hurt,” hyunjae declares. “be more careful, okay? you are very important in this stage. we need you at your very best, maknae!” he exclaims, ruffling eric’s hair. eric huffs and hyunjae laughs, rearranging the tufts of hair that he messed up. eric hopes hyunjae is unable to hear his thundering heartbeat. 

“5 more minutes and we’ll run it from the top again!” someone, probably changmin, shouts. 

hyunjae smirked and lifts eric up, swinging him around as they make their way to the other members. eric weakly slaps hyunjae’s arms (arms have always been one of eric’s weaknesses, specifically hyunjae’s) but that just made hyunjae laugh and swing eric around even harder. he puts eric down once they reach where the other members were gathered, immediately distracted by sunwoo goofing around. 

as the other members converse with one another, eric gets lost in his own thoughts. he knows that he usually does not have many lines or screen time during performances. he is not bitter about it, no. he knows that having more lines and screen time means that there is even more pressure on whoever it is to put up the perfect performance. eric knows that he would probably crumble under all that pressure. however, hyunjae saying that eric is very important in this performance lifted a weight off his shoulders that he did not even know existed. perhaps he was subconsciously doubting his place in The Boyz, as silly as it sounds. he knows the members love him, the fans love him, and he in turn loves all of them as well. he knows that he, like all the other members, play essential roles in The Boyz.

eric looks over to hyunjae, who is silently laughing at juyeon being pranked by changmin and chanhee. he looks so carefree in that moment, but eric knows that as one of the centres of The Boyz, hyunjae often spend sleepless nights worrying over future stages or berating himself over any minor mistakes he made in the past stages. he usually brushes off any concerns, saying that he’s fine, but the deep eye bags and dark eye circles that appear on some mornings show otherwise. eric’s heart clenches painfully every time he sees them.

with that in mind, eric pads over to hyunjae, tapping him on his elbow. hyunjae turns around, and eric looks at the ground, embarrassed about what he is about to say. 

“hey hyung, thanks for watching out for me just now. and for saying that i’m important for this stage. i guess i didn’t know i needed that. i know you might not take me seriously, but i just wanted to know that you are very important too. to us all” to me, eric silently adds in his mind.

he half expects hyunjae to laugh and be awkward about what he just said, so he trains his eyes on the ground, waiting for the bout of laughter that never came. confused, eric looks up, and sees a soft look in hyunjae’s eyes with a small smile on his lips. 

“thank you eric,” hyunjae whispers. 

both of them stand there smiling at each other. eric wills his frantic heart to slow down. 

“time! get into position!” sangyeon yells. 

suddenly, hyunjae surges forward, leaving a loud and wet kiss on eric’s cheek before running away, cackling. eric freezes, face turning redder and redder before he realises everyone is staring at him, waiting for him to get into position. he garbles out a half-assed apology and excuse before running to his place, purposely choosing a path that would allow him to go pass hyunjae, delivering a sharp smack to his ass. 

hyunjae screams. 

♟

ii. 

changmin must be really happy today. he has been jumping around during practice and now in the dorms. 

eric is watching their latest road to kingdom performance on his bed, repeatedly rewinding the part where younghoon chokes hyunjae. he tells himself that he is rewatching it because he’s trying to learn the expressions his hyungs are pulling off so well, not because _he wishes he was the one running his hand up hyunjae’s torso and then grabbing his neck._ no. 

a commotion starts in the living room. he can hear juyeon screaming. juyeon? screaming? that does not happen often. interest now piqued, eric sets his phone down, video paused right at the scene where hyunjae walks towards the camera, right before running onto the platform and lifting the flag. _how does he always look so good?_

eric leaves the room, curious about what is going on in the living room. he sees younghoon, sunwoo, changmin and juyeon gathered around the sofa, changmin on the floor, facing the sofa and away from eric. juyeon screams again. eric then realises that _changmin is biting juyeon_. 

“what the ever loving fuck are you doing ji changmin!” younghoon screams. sunwoo runs into the bathroom. changmin abruptly turns around as juyeon is clutching onto his poor, bitten leg, screaming bloody murder. changmin’s gaze narrows onto eric, who’s frozen on the spot. the smirk on his face grows wider and he runs toward eric, who manages to unfreeze himself to run back into his room and under his blanket. monsters (or cannibalistic squirrels) can’t get you if you are under your blanket, right?

changmin’s first target in the new-eric room is apparently chanhee. eric hears chanhee screaming and thrashing around. suddenly, his blanket is ripped off from around him and all eric can see is the demonic smirk on changmin’s face. eric whimpers. 

as changmin slowly descends upon him, eric holds changmin’s head away from his body, terrified of his chomping. seeing as his teeth is too far away from the target, changmin settles for a different approach and begins pinching eric. in the midst of all the chaos, eric manages to start recording on his phone, intending on posting it to fancafe after this ordeal is over to show just what life is like living alongside one (1) ji changmin. 

“THIS HYUNG IS CRAZY. THIS HYUNG IS CRAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZYYYYYYYY. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?” eric screams as changmin loses himself in the frenzy, repeatedly attacking eric. 

barely managing to finally shake changmin off, eric makes a mad dash into the living room with chanhee right behind him. eric bangs on younghoon and juyeon’s room door, yelling “LET US IN! YOU CANT LEAVE US OUT HERE WITH THIS RABID SQUIRREL UNLEASHED! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!!!” while constantly looking over his shoulders, looking for changmin. 

changmin walks out of eric and chanhee’s room and eric starts banging the door even harder. “OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR OH MY GOD HE’S OUT WE ARE GOING TO DIE PLEASE SAVE US OH MY FUCKING GOD” while changmin slowly makes his way towards the panicking duo. eric accepts his fate just as his legs loses strength, collapsing onto the sofa. 

unlike what eric thought, changmin does not walk towards the sofa. instead, he walks right up to the living room lamp and turns it off. the last thing eric sees before the lights turn off is the ominous smirk on changmin’s face. 

the only light source for chanhee and eric is now from the kitchen lights. changmin then turns around and enters the kitchen. 

“hey eric, let’s run back into our room on the count of 3”

chanhee begins counting down. 

_3 - should i actually follow chanhee?_

_2 - or should i let chanhee be the bait?_

_1_

eric makes his decision. 

eric remains rooted to the sofa as chanhee sprints back into their shared room. eric is impressed. he doesn’t think he has ever seen chanhee run this fast. 

the kitchen lights are switched off. the entire dorm is bathed in darkness. eric cannot see anything. he hears slow footsteps from the kitchen towards where he assumes his room door is. has changmin gone to attack chanhee? 

eric pulls out his phone from his pocket, trying his best to ignore the chills running down his spine. he turns on the flash and shines it towards his room door. 

eric screams again. 

changmin was standing right outside his room door, staring right at eric, with an evil grin on his face. 

as if a switch was suddenly turned off, changmin relaxes into his normal smile and says “alright. i’m done messing with you. go to sleep. i’m gonna go shower.” eric stands uneasily, flinching violently when changmin pets his shoulder as he passes by to go the bathroom. 

when he hears the shower turn on, eric heaves a sigh of relief, turning around to tidy up the mess that was left in the living room using only the light from the bathroom. when he is done, eric finally trudges his way back into his bedroom, ready to pass out. 

when eric opens the door, he screams. 

changmin is standing right behind the door, clearly waiting to deal his final attack. 

eric is done. 

without thinking, he runs into hyunjae and haknyeon’s shared room and locks the door. he hears a questioning “hmm?” and turns around, seeing hyunjae propped up on his arm in his bed with one eyebrow raised. eric dives into hyunjae’s bed and lands on him with an “oomf”. 

“changmin hyung is insane. actually insane. i’m pretty sure he got possessed by a squirrel demon. do those even exist? well even if they don’t, they sure do now. changmin is waiting for me in my room. i cant go back now. or ever. i think even if he isn’t there, a part of the squirrel demon will be left there forever. oh no. chanhee hyung. oh well. we have had some great times as roommates but i guess he’s gone now. rest in peace chanhee hyung. or maybe rest in pieces chanhee hyung. there’s no way he can survive that squirrel demon in one piece. can i sleep here tonight? and tomorrow? maybe forever? please protect me from the squirrel demon with your big beefy arms. only then will you be putting all those trips to the gym to good use. pretty please with a cherry on top?” eric ends his rambling with his best puppy eyes. 

hyunjae lets out a small laugh, petting eric’s hair. he doesn’t actually answer eric, but adjusts the both of them such that they are both under his blanket. eric assumes that’s a yes and snuggles up to hyunjae, planting his face into hyunjae’s chest as he takes deep breaths. has he mentioned that hyunjae smells really good? best smell in the world, truly. 

hyunjae continues petting eric’s hair, occasionally threading his fingers through distractedly while scrolling through his phone with his other hand. eric feels a featherlight pressure on his forehead that disappears as quickly as it appeared, and hears a soft “good night, maknae” but he might have imagined that, since he’s well on his way to dreamland. 

eric falls asleep listening to the steady thrum of hyunjae’s heartbeat. 

♟

iii. 

eric and hyunjae scream. 

so did a couple of other people. 

eric turns to look at hyunjae, who’s already looking at him. “why did we choose this?” eric sobs. 

hyunjae cry-laughs hysterically in response. 

before eric has fully calmed down, another jumpscare appears. eric snaps his head around and stuffs his face into hyunjae’s chest. he can hear hyunjae’s heartbeat speed up. that jumpscare must have really shook him up.

eric snuggles further into hyunjae’s chest, whips out his airpods and plays soothing music, determined to stay in that position for the rest of the movie. has he mentioned that hyunjae smells really good? because he does. constantly. 

somewhere between that jumpscare and the next, eric somehow falls asleep, breathing in hyunjae’s cologne, with hyunjae unconsciously running his fingers through eric’s hair. 

he is rudely awakened when hyunjae violently flinches at the next jumpscare, albeit silently as hyunjae has stuffed his fist inside his mouth to prevent himself from accidentally screaming into eric’s ear. hyunjae tries to apologise but his apology is cut off by the rest of the cinema screaming at what must be the biggest and goriest jumpscare in the entire movie. 

eric and hyunjae stare at each other for a moment, before quietly breaking out in giggles. good thing they missed that jumpscare. eric can already foresee himself having trouble sleeping alone at night for the next week. 

soon after that, the movie ends. as the credits roll on the screen and people start to exit the cinema, hyunjae and eric remain seated, hastily putting on a mask and cap when the lights turn on. the boyz is pretty popular and the members do get recognised in public regularly, but after road to kingdom started airing, it has become increasingly difficult for the boys to enjoy a trip out without a troop of fans trailing behind them. 

“i really have to pee,” hyunjae whispers while tapping his feet furiously on the ground. 

eric snickers. “go ahead then. i’ll wait for you outside.” 

hyunjae nods and tears out of his seat, sprinting towards the exit. he is lucky that all the people near the exit are too busy talking to each other to spare him a glance, since the shock of platinum blond hair he is currently spotting is peeking out from underneath his cap. 

eric stays in his seat until the cinema is mostly clear and the cleaners have entered. he quietly thanks them as he walks pass and heads towards the exit. 

there’s not many people outside, eric notes to himself. he leans against a pillar, lazily scrolling through his phone while waiting for hyunjae to be out. feeling a bit stuffy under his mask, he pulls it down slightly, exposing his nose so that he can breathe better. 

just then, a group of schoolgirls walk pass him. eric quickly pulls his mask back up but one of the girls gasps. “aren’t you eric from the boyz?” she exclaims, visibly getting increasingly excited. 

the group of girls all turn towards him and gasp one after another. 

“it’s really you!”

“i can’t believe this!”

“can we take a photo?”

“you’re so handsome!” 

eric becomes increasingly anxious, not knowing what to say or do. usually, when he is recognised in public, he is with at least one of the other members. he has never had to deal with this alone before. he loves his fans, he truly does, his representative line is “always remember, eric loves you” after all, but there has been way too many instances of fans following them around, leaving them with little to no privacy, and way more instances of them getting a little too close to him or the other members for comfort. 

just as he flounders around trying to think of how to react, a hand suddenly snatches his wrist. terrified, he looks up to see who is touching him, only to see a familiar pair of eyes. 

“jaeyoung ah! what are you doing just standing here? we are gonna miss the bus! hurry, let’s go!” hyunjae exclaims, with a higher pitch than usual. 

at once, eric understands. he quickly bows to the group of girls, who froze before one of them shouts “sorry! we must have made a mistake!”, causing the rest of the girls to bow at him as well in apology. eric waves the hand not grabbed by hyunjae, trying to signal that it’s fine, before letting himself get tugged away by hyunjae, who breaks into a run the moment eric finally moves. eric has no choice but to follow hyunjae as they zip around shoppers to head to the exit.

once they are a safe distance away from the mall, hyunjae pulls eric into a deserted alley where they both stop to catch their breaths. as he reflects on what has just happened, eric could not help but burst out laughing. hyunjae, with his hands on his knees, jerk up and stares at eric, confused, before he relaxes and start laughing as well. the laughter quickly dies down as they are still trying to catch their breaths, but both of them are now smiling. 

“th-thank you, h-hyung. but jae-jaeyoung, really? y-you couldnt ha-have come up w-with a better name?” eric wheezes out. 

“sh-shut up. i panicked, okay? at least they didnt realize it’s just your name backwards,” hyunjae replies, with much less wheezing. he has always been the fitter one. 

still too breathless to say much, eric resorts to just smiling at hyunjae, trying to convey his gratitude. hyunjae must have understood, because he returns the smile and ruffles eric’s hair

before pulling away with a disgusted expression. 

“what the fuck! you’re so sweaty!”

“i ran! why did you even touch my hair in the first place! you know i sweat easily!”

“ew eric! ew!”

hyunjae repeatedly wipes his hand on eric’s shirt while eric sticks his tongue out at him. when hyunjae realises that his hand will not be any cleaner the more he wipes off on eric’s shirt, he grimaces, before announcing, “alright, let’s head back.” 

eric nods, and they finally leave the alley, stepping on the familiar path back to the dorms. an idea springs into eric’s head and he slowly inches towards hyunjae as he is distracted looking and cooing at a kid across the road skipping. 

when he is close enough, eric grabs hyunjae’s arm before aggressively wiping the sweat on his face on hyunjae’s sleeve. 

hyunjae screams and yells at eric while the latter runs away, cackling. 

.

.

.

♟

iv.

sangyeon and sunwoo, who are lazing on the sofa, barely flinch when the dorm door slams open from eric entering and then trying his damnest to shut the door on hyunjae’s face. alas, hyunjae’s greater strength, from him being basically an adonis god (eric’s opinion) or consistent trips to the gym because he does have a reputation to uphold (hyunjae’s opinion), allows him to push through the door that eric is leaning his entire weight on. 

realising that hyunjae is not going to kill him for being gross, eric finally allows himself to collapse onto the floor as he tries to catch his breath. 

“nuh-uh. you know you shouldnt lie down immediately after exercising,” hyunjae tuts, pulling eric up. eric tries his best to be a deadweight but hyunjae somehow still manages to get eric back on his feet. damn him and his inhumane strength. 

hyunjae proceeds to stretch a little while eric just stares, unwilling to move any further. when hyunjae bends forward to touch his toes, his t-shirt rides up his torso, exposing eric to the expanse of hyunjae’s back muscles. eric gulps and pretends as if he wasnt looking when hyunjae comes back up. 

slightly embarrassed, eric walks towards the sofa and settles on the floor in front of sunwoo, who’s playing animal crossing. eric quickly becomes absorbed in the game, fascinated as sunwoo expertly navigates around. 

sometime later, eric hears the showers turn on and realises that hyunjae is probably showering. for a split second, he imagines what hyunjae’s back muscles must look like when he is shampooing his hair before his brain catches up, and eric slaps himself on the cheek, whispering to himself “what the fuck are you thinking?”

he looks at sunwoo, who’s looking at him weirdly. out of the corner of his eye, he can see sangyeon passed out on the sofa, sleeping with his mouth open. well, at least sunwoo is the only one who saw that. 

ignoring sunwoo, eric gets up walks over to sangyeon and snaps a photo of their sleeping leader.

he opens his gallery to look at the photo again and snickers before showing it to sunwoo, who has hopefully already forgotten about eric slapping himself. he snickers as well and gives eric a hi-five before going back to his game. 

eric heads to his room. he talks to chanhee for a while before chanhee yawns and bids him good night. eric then picks out the clothes he’s going to change into after showering as quietly as he can, trying his best not to wake chanhee up. 

someone knocks gently on his door before it opens slightly, with hyunjae’s head popping in. “you can shower now,” hyunjae whispers after seeing that chanhee is asleep. 

eric nods. just as hyunjae was about to close the door, eric’s stomach grumbles softly and an idea pops into his head. 

“hyung!” he loudly whispers. hyunjae looks back in, confused. 

“do you wanna eat ramyeon? after i’m done showering?” 

hyunjae smiles and shows eric a thumbs up. “i’ll wait for you in the living room.” hyunjae whispers back. chanhee shifts around on his bed, whining softly, and the two of them freeze, before realising that he’s still asleep. hyunjae puts his finger on his lip as he grins and slowly closes the door to eric’s room. 

eric takes a quick shower because he is hungry, not because _he’s excited to spend even more time with hyunjae_ , shut up. he steps out of the bathroom to see hyunjae sitting where sangyeon was, the latter and sunwoo nowhere to be found. eric watches as hyunjae’s head lolls forward before he jerks awake, sees eric standing there and grins. “let’s eat some ramyeon,” hyunjae declares with a yawn and stretches his hands over his head. 

eric wills his heart to stop beating so furiously when hyunjae’s t-shirt rides up again, exposing a sliver of his very, very well-trained abs. he is somewhat successful only because he has seen it countless times from living together. eric calls it exposure therapy. 

“you dont have to force yourself if you’re tired, you know. i can just eat by myself,” eric states, confused as to why hyunjae was trying to hard to stay awake. hyunjae just smiles, walks forward and ruffles eric’s hair. “i’m awake now. i want to eat with you.” 

_oh, eric’s poor heart._

he somehow manages to garble out a response before turning on his heels to head to the kitchen. why is he so easily flustered? he stares at the assortment of ramyeon packets and is thinking of hitting his head against the cabinets when hyunjae enters the kitchen behind him. 

hyunjae walks up to beside eric and slings his arm (arm!) across eric’s shoulder, looking through the ramyeon packets as well. eric freezes while hyunjae twists his body and reaches for one of the packets, unconsciously bringing eric closer to his chest. 

how is eric gonna survive this night?

hyunjae makes a noise and eric realises that he must have been asked a question. he turns to hyunjae, who is holding up a packet of neoguri, head slightly tilted as he looks at eric questioningly. eric just nods and that was apparently the correct reply as hyunjae smiles and grabs a few more of the same packets. 

hyunjae breaks away from eric and heads towards the kitchen counter and eric automatically goes to search for the pot they always use for ramyeon. they settle into a routine, working together seamlessly to create the delicacy that is a pot of ramyeon noodles. it feels very domestic. eric tells his brain to shut up.

they huddle together on the sofa, taking turns to eat from the pot. more often than not, their arms brush each other and eric tries to not shiver whenever it happens. it feels like a jolt of electricity shoots up his arm every time their arms come in contact. 

they quickly finish up the ramyeon. eric moves to go do the dishes but hyunjae stops him and urges him to go to bed first. eric is not one to turn down any opportunity for extra sleep, so he thanks hyunjae happily before skipping back into his room. 

the moment eric closes his eyes to try and sleep, images of the jumpscare from the movie keep popping up in his head. no matter how hard he tries, eric cannot banish those images from his mind. he gives up. it seems like tonight is gonna be a long night after all. 

or, eric brightens, there is an easy solution to this.

hyunjae wipes his hands dry before turning off the lights in the kitchen. he walks towards his bedroom when he notices that the door is opened slightly. did he forget to close it? hyunjae furrows his brows and scratches his head for a bit, trying to recall his actions before giving up and pushing the door open. 

he moves around as quietly as possible in the dark, trying his best to not wake haknyeon up. after his eyes have adjusted to the dark, he turns to his bed, where he spots an unfamiliar lump. he pulls down the covers to see that oh, it is eric. even in the darkness, hyunjae can see the sheepish smile on eric’s face. 

“why are you here?” hyunjae quietly whispers, petting eric’s head so that he knows hyunjae is not annoyed. 

“couldn't get the jumpscares out of my head... i'm scared...” eric mumbles, pulling the covers back up to cover the bottom part of his face. 

hyunjae just smiles before pushing eric slightly across the bed to make space for himself. he slides in behind eric, who is facing away from him, before wrapping his arms around eric’s waist and pulling him flush against his own chest. 

“i’ll protect you~” hyunjae coos quietly. he feels eric shiver a bit and smiles to himself. he closes his eyes and quickly falls into deep sleep, breathing in the scent of eric’s shampoo and getting warmed up by his new personal heated bolster. 

♟

v.

eric feels something on his forehead. he opens his eyes blearily, only to see hyunjae looking down at him, eyebrows furrowed. “you’re having a fever,” hyunjae declares. 

“go back to sleep first, alright? i’ll be back.” hyunjae tucks the covers around eric before leaving the room. 

eric stares at the ceiling. right. he’s not in his room. because he’s in hyunjae and haknyeon’s room. because he was scared to sleep alone. eric groans. did he really just ask to sleep in hyunjae’s bed because he was scared? (a voice inside his head reminds him that he technically did not ask for permission. eric shuts that voice up.) 

before eric can fall back asleep, hyunjae is already re-entering the room, sangyeon in tow. hyunjae places a fever patch on eric’s forehead while sangyeon asks eric how he’s feeling. 

“hey eric-ah. i asked juyeon to cook some porridge for you. are you hurting anywhere? headaches? blocked nose? sore throat?” 

“just a blocked nose,” eric answers with a sniffle. 

sangyeon nods and pets eric’s head softly, wishing him a quick recovery before he leaves the room, probably to inform their manager. hyunjae tells eric that he will wake him up when the porridge is done and almost turns to leave as well when an inexplicable urge compels eric to mumble, “please stay.”

hyunjae turns around, surprised. eric realises what he said and he can feel his face turning redder. he pulls the covers up to hide his burning cheeks but his eyes remain on hyunjae. he usually isn't this needy but he really does want hyunjae to stay.

hyunjae snaps back from the shock and smiles. he grabs his phone from the floor and slides back into his bed, sitting up against the headboard. eric immediately snuggles up to him, arms wrapped around hyunjae’s waist and sighs contentedly, causing hyunjae to giggle. hyunjae brings his left arm around eric’s torso and slowly rubs eric’s arm. eric falls asleep quickly. 

he is woken up after a while when juyeon and chanhee bring in a bowl of porridge. eric slowly sits up with the help of hyunjae and chanhee has fun being way too overbearing trying to feed eric. he coos at eric after every bite. the noise must have attracted the other members as they join and start fighting for the chance to feed eric. 

while sunwoo and changmin argue over who should be next, hyunjae picks up the forgotten spoon and starts feeding eric instead. he blows lightly on the steaming porridge and eric doesn't realise that he is staring at hyunjae’s lips until haknyeon groans.

“now eric wouldn't want any of us to feed him! we lost our chance!” he wails, dramatically flopping onto the nearest member, who happens to be kevin. kevin also starts fake crying, which prompts the rest of the members to all start dramatically falling over themselves to wail. 

eric stares at them, confused. his fever-addled brain is not really functioning well at the moment, so he looks at the only other member who’s not joining in the theatrics, hyunjae. surprisingly, hyunjae looks embarrassed. why is he blushing? hyunjae scoops up another spoon of porridge and feeds it to eric, ears bright red. the other members starts crying even louder, and hyunjae becomes even redder. 

as if they were all controlled by the same switch, the wailing stops abruptly and they each wish eric a quick recovery before filing out of the room in succession. eric just stares and then sighs. this isn't the weirdest thing they’ve ever done, but it comes pretty close. maybe he’ll ask them what that was all about after he recovers. hyunjae lets out what sounds like a nervous chuckle before he continues feeding eric. 

soon after, the sound of the spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl can be heard. eric looks at hyunjae in surprise. he didn’t think he would be able to finish the entire bowl. hyunjae just grins at him and pets his head, explaining that he’s going to go get the medicine. 

eric whines and pouts, playing the maknae card to the fullest. he _really_ doesn’t want hyunjae to leave. “ask someone else to bring it. i don’t want you to leave,” eric whines. if he’s going to exploit hyunjae’s weakness for him, he was going to make it _worth_. he even brings out his best puss in boots impression. 

hyunjae just freezes. when eric finally stops and just looks at hyunjae confusedly, he finally regains his senses. “i-i’ll ask someone to bring it,” hyunjae sputters out as he fumbles around on his phone, probably to send a message in the groupchat. eric notices that hyunjae is once again strangely pink. did he already get the sickness from eric?

eric’s train of thought is interrupted by the room door opening once again. jacob’s head pops in and hyunjae quickly takes the proffered box of medicine. eric watches as jacob whispers something to hyunjae, which has him slapping jacob before trying to push him out of the room. jacob just laughs and manages to get in a “he’s still sick! don’t try anything on him! get well soon eric!” before hyunjae succeeds in closing the door in jacob’s face. 

hyunjae turns around and eric can see that his ears are bright red. eric is too tired and confused by the day’s events so he decides he will question everything after he recovers. for now, he just takes the medicine hyunjae offers and heads back to sleepyland after snuggling up to hyunjae once again. 

a few hours later, eric wakes up feeling better, but still slightly feverish. he belatedly realises that hyunjae is not beside him anymore and pouts. after waiting for five minutes, eric decides to venture outside of the room. he slowly lumbers out and sees juyeon on the sofa using his phone. 

juyeon must have heard eric coming out of the room since he looks up at eric. eric tries to wave at juyeon but is suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness and falters on the spot, grabbing onto the nearest door frame. juyeon immediately appears beside him and tries to lead eric back into hyunjae’s room but eric whines that he doesn’t want to be in the room anymore. eric then points at the sofa and juyeon nods, slowly walking over with eric’s arms over his shoulders. 

it is a comical sight, truly, juyeon so hunched over in order to accommodate to eric’s height. 

eric proceeds to lie on the sofa as soon as they reach it. juyeon goes to bring eric a cup of water and his medicine. eric accepts them gratefully and sits up slightly to quickly down them before lying back down. juyeon sits beside eric’s head and gently moves eric to lie his head down on his lap.

he then goes back to using his phone with one hand and the other hand gently threads through eric’s hair, lightly scratching his scalp. eric almost immediately falls asleep again but he manages to stay awake to ask an important question: “where’s hyunjae-hyung?” 

juyeon just laughs quietly. “he’s showering. he really didn’t want to leave your side but haknyeon saw him sweating buckets and said that even you would feel grossed out. he just went in so i doubt he’s going to be done so soon.” 

eric smiles contentedly at the answer before his mind narrows in on a tiny detail. “what did he mean by ‘even me’?”

juyeon looks at eric, amused. “he means ‘even you’ as in even _you_ , eric, who worships the ground hyunjae hyung walks on, will think that sweaty hyunjae hyung is gross.”

eric’s mind immediately brings up an image of a sweaty hyunjae. hyunjae, after hours of practice, with sweat dripping down his bangs, rolling down his neck. sometimes hyunjae likes to pull up the hem of his shirt to wipe at the sweat too. eric tries very hard to not blurt out the fact that he definitely _does not_ think that that is gross. 

juyeon grimaces and lightly slaps eric’s arm. “i know you are thinking about inappropriate stuff about your dear hyunjae hyung now. that’s gross. i don’t know why i even feeded you with that image in the first place.”

“sh-shut up. you don’t know what i’m thinking about.”

“you were definitely thinking of a very different and very sexy hyunjae hyung than what i was talking about.”

eric does not comment further. his silence, paired with the growing blush on his face, tells juyeon more than enough. he laughs. 

“alright you perverted little maknae. are you going to wait for hyunjae hyung here?” 

“yeah. are you going to leave? please don’t leave.”

“wow. and here i thought you only cared about hyunjae hyung’s company.”

“don’t say that! i enjoy the company of all my fellow members, hyunjae hyung and non-hyunjae hyungs alike.” 

eric earns another light slap to his other arm. he giggles. 

“you little—. i’m gonna tell kevin what you said. he’s going to feel so betrayed. and jacob. can you believe you are going to break an actual angel’s heart? how could you?” 

juyeon gets a slap on his thigh and the both of them dissolve into giggles. it slowly dies down and eric feels sleepy again as juyeon resumes his light head scratching thing. the last thing eric notes before falling asleep is that _oh_ , even juyeon, the most dense member of the team, could tell that eric is whipped for hyunjae. _oh no_.

(hyunjae walks out of the shower. he is about to re-enter his room when his eyes slide over to the sofa where a familiar boy was lying on juyeon’s lap, sleeping. he tries to ignore the sudden twist in his stomach when he spots the tiny smile on eric’s face as juyeon runs his fingers through his hair. he walks up to juyeon, who looks up and grins. 

“i’ll carry eric back to bed.” hyunjae blurts out. 

juyeon grins wider. “sure thing, hyung.”

hyunjae looks at juyeon puzzledly for a second before deciding that he’ll deal with that another time. for now, he just wants eric away from juyeon. _you’re jealous_ , his brain helpfully supplies. hyunjae shuts that part of his brain up. 

juyeon is surprisingly helpful in helping to navigate eric’s limbs until he is firmly nested in hyunjae’s arms, bridal style. eric lets out a little noise, still asleep, and snuggles impossibly closer to hyunjae’s chest. hyunjae looks at juyeon, whose grin has grown so wide that it threatens to split his face. 

“good night hyung. take good care of him. he was only outside because he was looking for you,” juyeon whispers, eyes twinkling. 

hyunjae can feel his cheeks starting to burn. he nods and wishes juyeon good night too before heading back into his room, with a sleeping eric in his arms. 

he gently lowers eric down onto the bed. once settled, eric’s hand reaches out, searching blindly. he finds hyunjae’s fingers and latch onto it, pulling his hand towards his face before smushing his cheek against it, sighing somewhat happily.

hyunjae can only watch fondly, affection growing in his chest so much it threatens to explode, before carefully sliding into bed, gently pulling eric to his chest. hyunjae falls into deep sleep with an armful of eric.)

♟

+1.

eric slowly opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. the room is still dark. it's still early. he's awake this early because he slept the whole day away yesterday. because he was sick. _oh_. he’s in hyunjae’s room. didn’t he fall asleep on the sofa? did hyunjae carry him back to bed? eric blushes at the thought. 

he then notices that hyunjae is pressed up against his back. eric’s blush deepens. he also realises that hyunjae feels way too warm behind him. he carefully turns around and gently touches hyunjae’s forehead. 

_oh_ . hyunjae is sick. because eric passed the sickness to him. because eric stubbornly asked hyunjae to stay with him _while he was sick_. oh no. 

eric slowly tries to extract himself from hyunjae’s grip. hyunjae’s eyebrows furrow in his sleep when there’s nothing for him to hold on to. eric carefully slides the bolster that he has been loosely hugging into hyunjae’s arms, in hopes that whatever body heat left in the bolster is enough for hyunjae. 

it is. hyunjae crushes the bolster against his body and his facial expression relaxes again. eric smiles at hyunjae’s peaceful sleeping expression before silently leaving the room. 

he sees kevin in the kitchen, sipping on his daily cup of morning coffee. kevin waves and eric smiles before he remembers that _hyunjae is sick._

“hyung, hyunjae hyung is _sick_. i got better and he got sick. how do i take care of a sick person?” eric panics. 

kevin smiles knowingly before answering eric. 

  1. put a cold towel on his forehead



eric soaks hyunjae’s face towel in cold water. he wrings out all the water and carefully folds it into a neat rectangle. he silently re-enters hyunjae and haknyeon’s room again and gently moves hyunjae such that he is now lying on his back. he places the cold towel on hyunjae’s forehead and watches as hyunjae’s face scrunch up from the cold. he chuckles silently and threads his fingers through hyunjae’s hair. hyunjae relaxes immediately. 

  1. cook him something that is easy to digest



with kevin’s help, eric manages to find and cut up some vegetables that he throws in a slow cooker to prepare the porridge. there’s not much else he can do regarding this step except to wait for hyunjae to wake up. 

  1. prepare water and medicine for him 



eric has just started looking for the medicine that he himself ate the day before when hyunjae shuffles into the kitchen. he has the towel in one hand and another hand rubbing his eyes tiredly. eric immediately goes over to fuss over him, checking his temperature before ushering him back into his room. 

eric busies himself trying to make hyunjae as comfortable as possible. he props up pillows, and even dashes back into his room to get some of his own pillows to add to the pile. hyunjae just sits on his bed, dazed as he watches eric. 

haknyeon rouses from sleep, confused by the commotion and eric explains to him that hyunjae is sick. haknyeon wishes hyunjae a speedy recovery before he looks at eric and turns back to wink at hyunjae. hyunjae does not give a verbal reply but when eric looks at him, his face is an unhealthy shade of pink. 

“oh no. you’re really red. does that mean you have a really high fever?” eric panics. 

haknyeon giggles. “i’m sure that’s not the only reason why he’s so red.” 

hyunjae just flusteredly shoos haknyeon out of the room and haknyeon obliges, cackling lightly as he exits the room. eric is confused by the exchange until he remembers that he has a more important task at hand. 

“i’ll bring you porridge! just sit back and relax, hyung. it is my turn to take care of you!” eric exclaims, puffing up his chest. 

hyunjae nods before opening and closing his mouth a few times, looking like he wants to say something. eric waits patiently for him to say what he wants but they are interrupted by a knock on the door. eric turns around and sees sunwoo opening the door for younghoon, who’s carrying what looks like a steaming bowl of the porridge eric made.

“we have come offering food! we thought that hyunjae wouldn’t want eric to leave even for a second so we have decided to be kind and deliver the food!” sunwoo announces, with a maniacal grin matching younghoon's. younghoon passes the bowl to eric, who is confused. “what do you mean? i was just about to go get the porridge myself.”

sunwoo and younghoon look at each other before they turn to look at hyunjae. the two of them start laughing at hyunjae, who’s oddly pink again. 

“sure! you are truly a very helpful maknae! now go be even more useful and feed hyunjae like how he fed you yesterday!” younghoon exclaims, grinning widely. the duo then pushes eric towards hyunjae.

“you don’t have to feed me. i can eat it myself,” hyunjae says quietly, looking everywhere except at eric. 

eric huffs. “no! i’ll feed you. it is my turn to take care of you.”

sunwoo and younghoon cheer in the background.

eric scoops up a spoon of porridge and blows on it carefully, before bringing the spoon to hyunjae’s lips. he gently prods at it when hyunjae does not open his mouth, repeating “ahhhhhhhhhhhhh”, and after a few rounds of coaxing, hyunjae reluctantly opens his mouth, cheeks bright red. eric can hear sunwoo and younghoon losing their minds. 

eric continues feeding hyunjae. after a few minutes, sunwoo and younghoon finally decide to leave the room, throwing a “take care of him well! get well soon hyunjae!” over their shoulders as they leave. eric and hyunjae quietly finish the bowl of porridge. 

eric watches as hyunjae takes his medicine and then helps him get ready for bed. hyunjae lies down with his back facing away from eric, so eric almost misses the next part if not for the fact that he is always paying attention to hyunjae.

“plea-please stay.”

eric smiles. he quickly jumps onto the bed, startling hyunjae, before wrapping his limbs all around the ill man like an octopus. “sleep well hyung, i’ll be here,” eric whispers. he feels hyunjae shiver. 

hyunjae’s breaths slowly even out. eric does not manage to fall asleep since he slept so much yesterday. he just lies there quietly, listening to hyunjae breathe in and out. if he tries a little harder, he can hear hyunjae’s steady heartbeat as well. it is a major contrast to eric’s, whose heart is thundering in his chest. 

many weird things have happened these two days with the members. eric knows that his crush on hyunjae probably isn’t very well-hidden, but the members have never really commented on it. the most he gets is sunwoo asking him to _please close your mouth, you are literally drooling_ when eric gets a little distracted watching hyunjae sometimes walk around topless in the dorm. 

he tries not to think about what they were trying to imply, saying that hyunjae didn’t want eric to leave. granted, he actually asked him that, but they sound like they were trying to hint at something more. something more like… hyunjae liking eric back? eric swallows down the little burst of happiness in his chest at that thought. how can it be possible? hyunjae is _hyunjae_ , and eric is just… eric.

before eric spirals into the deep, dark hole of self-deprecating thoughts, hyunjae shifts. there is a pained look on his face. he opens his mouth and whimpers. “don’t leave… please don’t leave… i love you…” 

eric freezes. he barely regains his bearings before hyunjae continues.

“please… please…”

hyunjae sounds so broken. eric shakes hyunjae with increasing urgency, trying to wake him up. he almost shouts for help when hyunjae jolts awake, looking around the room frantically. when he locks eyes with eric, hyunjae bursts into tears and collapses onto eric, hugging him so tightly that he can barely breathe.

eric does not know what to do except to gently rub circles onto hyunjae’s back, occasionally petting his hair and constantly whispering “i’m here, i’m here”. hyunjae cries into eric’s shirt. they stay in this position for a long time even after hyunjae manages to calm down. after a good while of nothing happening, eric cranes his neck to look at hyunjae’s face, only to realise that he has fallen asleep again. his fingers holding onto eric’s shirt twitches slightly. eric slowly moves hyunjae such that he’s lying down but hyunjae refuses to let go of eric, even asleep. 

eric uses his free hand to slowly thread his fingers through hyunjae’s hair. the pinched look on hyunjae’s face finally slowly fades away. his expression might have relaxed, but his grip on eric’s shirt is still tight. eric just continues to run his fingers through his hair, watching hyunjae’s peaceful sleeping expression. 

so there _is_ someone hyunjae likes, huh. eric feels disappointment deep in his chest. he feels his stomach sink the more he thinks about it. eric can only hope that he can get over his crush on hyunjae before hyunjae confesses to whoever it is and eric has to see them together. he doesn’t think he can survive watching him loving someone else, not when he wishes he is that someone else. a drop falls onto the bedsheet and eric realises that he has been crying.

a few hours later, long after hyunjae’s grip on eric’s shirt has finally loosened enough that eric was finally able to grab his phone and ended back right beside hyunjae watching videos, hyunjae wakes up. his movements are even more sluggish now. eric quickly touches hyunjae’s forehead and is dismayed when he finds it still hot to the touch. he almost tells hyunjae he is going to go get his medicine when the room door opens and sangyeon tiptoes in, trying to be as quiet as possible. once he realises that both of them are awake, he straightens up and hands the medicine and a glass of water to eric with a soft smile on his face. “are you still having a fever?” sangyeon asks quietly.

hyunjae touches his forehead and pouts (pouts!). sangyeon takes that as a yes and laughs. “alright, take the meds and continue resting. we will bring in dinner for you when it’s time.”

“thank you, hyung.”

“thank you for taking care of hyunjae, eric-ah.”

“n-no problem.”

sangyeon leaves with a little wink.

when eric turns to look at hyunjae, he finds him already tucked in, looking half asleep already. he looks like he is struggling to keep his eyes open, but manages to mumble “thank you, eric-ah. i love you,” before sleep takes over him again. 

eric freezes. he wasn’t serious, right? hyunjae doesn’t usually say ‘i love you’ to any of them, not if it wasn’t a joke. but… he sounded so serious. a bubble of hope grows in his chest but eric doesn’t let it inflate any further. he should not get his hopes up. 

he resumes watching videos on his phone, occasionally changing the cold towel on hyunjae’s forehead when the other members helpfully bring it in without eric having to inform anyone. ever so often, hyunjae’s arms flop around as if searching for something. when the arm lands on eric, hyunjae would sigh and proceed to wrap himself around eric’s lower half since eric was sitting up on the bed. although hyunjae moves away eventually every time, he always comes back to eric. whenever that happens, eric’s heart threatens to escape out of his chest. 

once, eric is in the middle of his crisis when there is a gentle knock on the door. haknyeon and changmin pop in soon after, carrying a bowl of porridge and another bowl of rice with many side dishes piled on top. haknyeon sees the state the two on the bed are in and winks exaggeratedly at eric, who’s sending them pleading looks. changmin looks like he is going to coo until he realises that hyunjae is still passed out. after setting the bowls down, the two start laughing and slapping each other silently while pointing at eric and hyunjae, and they get even more excited as they see eric turn redder and redder. 

they must have failed to remain silent because hyunjae wakes up blearily after a while. the two immediately stop and pretend as if nothing happened. they fail again when hyunjae realises the position he is in and backs away quickly, embarrassed. 

“seems like we disturbed something~” haknyeon sang. before hyunjae or eric could reply, changmin butted in with a “let’s go. we don’t want to delay any further cuddling!” they cackle as they push each other out of the room, leaving eric and hyunjae blushing, avoiding each other’s eyes. 

eventually, eric decides that he can no longer handle the awkwardness and speaks up. “they brought dinner. are you well enough to eat on your own? or do you need me to feed you?” 

knock him out and don’t let him speak ever again. eric watches in horror as hyunjae becomes even more embarrassed at the reminder, letting out a small “i can eat by myself, thank you.”

“i’m not complaining! i’m just genuinely asking! you know i’d gladly feed you again if you need me to.” WHY IS ERIC STILL TALKING?

hyunjae just lets out an awkward chuckle and motions for eric to bring him his bowl. the two of them start eating in silence. 

for some reason, eric’s subconscious mind apparently decides that he wasn’t done being embarrassing since he blurts out “you like someone, don’t you?”

he doesn’t see hyunjae’s rapidly paling face since he is looking down at his bowl. “you were talking to someone in your sleep earlier. i don’t know if you remember it but you woke up and looked at me and cried yourself back to sleep.” eric adds.

hyunjae lets out a nervous chuckle. “oh… that really happened? i thought i dreamed all of it.”

eric notes that he doesn’t deny the part about liking someone. he doesn’t know where his bravery comes from when he says the next part.

“well then you shouldn’t be telling me you love me if you like someone else.” eric says, adding a weak chuckle at the end.

eric doesn’t hear any noise from hyunjae. after a while, he looks up and sees hyunjae’s searching eyes looking at him, expression unclear. hyunjae seems to find what he is looking for as he looks like he has an internal battle with himself before he makes up his mind and his gaze turns determined. 

“i do like someone.” hyunjae starts. eric’s gut twists. he doesn’t really want to listen to hyunjae confess his love about someone else.

“i like someone in our group. i like him so much that i stayed with him while he was sick yesterday which made me so ill today.”

eric’s head snaps up. hyunjae looks afraid, toying with the fabric of the cover. however, he does not look away from eric, searching him again for any sort of reaction. when eric doesn’t react after a long while, hyunjae finally tears his gaze away, embarrassed. “i’m sorry for springing this onto you. i thought-- no. i’m sorry. please forget this ever happened. i’ll-- i’m sorry.” hyunjae picks up his bowl hurriedly and proceeds to leave before the sudden action must have been too much and he stumbles.

eric snaps out of his reverie and grabs hyunjae and the bowl he’s holding, steadying them both. “no!” eric yells, causing hyunjae to flinch. he tugs harder at hyunjae until he is facing him again. “i’m sorry. i just froze up. you like me? you, lee hyunjae, like me, sohn eric?” eric asks disbelievingly. hyunjae just turns around and tries to leave again, mumbling a “you clearly heard what i said” under his breath. eric grabs onto hyunjae tightly. 

“i’m sorry! let me do this another way. i like you too, hyung. i like you very much. it is just unbelievable that you actually like me back.” eric confesses, pleading hyunjae to just _look at him_. 

hyunjae turns around, shock evident on his face. the expression then turns into happiness, and then confusion. “what do you mean it’s unbelievable? have you seen yourself?” hyunjae asked, confused. eric blushes. is this real? is anything real? did hyunjae just confess to him? 

he feels hands gently cradling his chin, bringing his face up. he then sees hyunjae leaning in, getting closer and closer. he can feel his cheeks burning again as he squeezes his eyes shut. all he feels is the softest pressure against his forehead which leaves as quickly as it came. he snaps his eyes open and sees hyunjae smiling gently down at him. “i really want to kiss you right now. but i’m still sick.” hyunjae states, adding that last part with a pout.

eric flushes even redder than before. he steels his nerves before he shoots up to land a quick peck on hyunjae’s warm cheek. “i want to kiss you too. but for now, this will have to do.” eric confesses.

the two of them just stay in that position, smiling at each other with blushes high on their cheeks. after what felt like hours, eric pulls hyunjae back onto the bed before he moves himself onto hyunjae’s lap, moving a frozen hyunjae’s arms to around his own waist. he then turns to grab the bowl of porridge before starting to feed him. hyunjae snaps back into reality and his arms tighten around eric’s waist, somehow blushing even harder as he accepts every bite. he looks at eric and eric can see the pure adoration in hyunjae’s eyes. eric’s heart soars.

after finishing his porridge, eric feeds hyunjae his medicine as well. hyunjae just accepts everything, albeit with a disbelieving look in his eyes. eric can understand. he doesn’t think this is real, either. he lands another peck onto hyunjae’s cheek and giggles as he watches red quickly blossoming on said cheek. the two don’t talk much, promising to talk about it more once hyunjae is fully recovered. 

the two slowly settle down, ready to turn in for the night. after the lights are turned off, eric hears hyunjae whisper “i really like you, eric-ah.” eric smiles widely to himself before he replies “i like you very much too, hyunjae hyung. good night.” eric punctuates that with a swift kiss to hyunjae’s temple. 

hyunjae makes a little happy noise at that, which causes eric to giggle. hyunjae pulls eric closer, arms wound tightly around his back while eric holds onto hyunjae’s shirt tightly. hyunjae presses a kiss onto the crown of eric’s head and the two of them drift to dreamland with a smile on their face.

♟

(bonus:

“where’s eric? is he not awake yet?” sangyeon asks.

“hyunjae hyung went to wake him up,” juyeon replies.

everyone groans at juyeon, who looks around in confusion. 

“i bet they’re cuddling again! you know hyunjae cannot say no to eric!” chanhee wails.

“alright! let’s go wake them both up!” kevin declares, stomping towards eric’s room.

when kevin enters, he pauses at the door, causing the rest of the members to bump into him, all letting out a soft groans. he shushes them, and points at eric’s bed. 

hyunjae and eric look so happy holding onto each other. it’s like they are in their own little bubble, with only them two and no one else. hyunjae is slowly carding his hand through eric’s hair while eric leans into the hand, sighing happily.

the members just leave quietly.

“let’s give them five more minutes,” sangyeon decides.

everyone agrees.)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb6b_tnlp5A&t) for helping me visualise the whole changmin situation!!! and bless eric's storytelling  
> also [this](https://kapwi.ng/c/8zPvSghF)  
> i'm evergreen so it was pretty difficult for me to write the confession scene... im sorry  
> pls forgive any mistakes i've made... i haven't written anything that's not a report or academic essay in like 5 years...  
> also a big thank you to all the nice and encouraging tweets (to just write whatever the fuck you want at your own pace) i've seen recently when i was really stuck writing this they really made me feel a lot better :')  
> someone pls notice what i did with the word count  
> pls leave a kudos or even a comment if you enjoyed this!  
> come say hi on [twitter ](https://www.twitter.com/ao3ddeonghwa)(i made a new account just for fic writing and reading lmao) or [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/ao3ddeonghwa)!


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